by Paul Harding
First published 2023
In 1792, Benjamin Honey escapes slavery and finds refuge on Apple Island off the Maine coast with his Irish wife Patience. Over a century later, their descendants still call the island home alongside an unusual community of misfits. Two sisters care for three Penobscot orphans. Theophilus and Candace Lark raise their children in the island's shadows. The Civil War veteran Zachary Hand to God Proverbs makes his home inside a hollow tree and speaks in riddles about the future. This fragile sanctuary faces destruction when state officials arrive with plans to eliminate what they see as an undesirable population. A missionary teacher offers to rescue one light-skinned boy from the community. The others must choose between forced removal to state institutions or fleeing by boat into an uncertain future. The island residents confront a world that cannot tolerate their differences as they fight to preserve the only home they have ever known.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, marginalized-community
Setting: Apple Island, Maine, United States
Period: 1792, 19th Century, 20th Century
226 pages · Paperback · Goose Lane Editions
Content warnings: slavery